The numerous differences in the gospel accounts of the resurrection have led New Testament scholar Willi Marxsen to conclude "that not only would each be at best incomplete if it were intended as history, but that they cannot be harmonized in detail."
the changes which Matthew and Luke made in Mark (which they knew) reveal that certain theological purposes shaped the narratives. The original manuscripts of Mark, which is considered by most critical Biblical scholars to be the earliest gospel, ends at 16:8 without the appearance story of the risen Jesus in 16:9-20, which was added later.
if the accounts in Acts of Paul's experience are accurate - a highly questionable assumption - then Paul did not see Jesus at all; all he saw was a light. Likewise, the appearance to 500 is rejected by several scholars as unhistorical because it is only mentioned by Paul.
Craig concludes thus, "The origin of the Christian faith is therefore inexplicable unless Jesus really rose from the dead." Do plausible alternatives to the resurrection exist?
Before suggesting what I consider plausible explanations for the origin of the disciples' belief, let me make it clear which hypotheses I reject. I do not hold to the hypothesis that Jesus did not die but merely "lost consciousness" on the cross, and later revived (NOVO wonders why?). Nor do I believe that the resurrection accounts are deliberate lies by eyewitnesses of the crucifixion who concocted resurrection stories they knew to be false. Nor I do I reject the historical existence of Jesus.
There are at least two factors which may have led to the disciples' belief in Jesus' resurrection. Jewish Wisdom literature influenced the earliest Christian thinking on the resurrection. The Jewish apocalyptic expectation as another source of the disciples' belief that Jesus has been raised from the dead.
Moreover, the problem of the origin of a belief is not unique to Christianity. The early followers of other religions, like Mormonism and Islam for example, were also convinced of the truth of their religion. Just because we may not completely understand how these beliefs came into existence does not mean these beliefs must be true.
Many, if not most, scholars doubt the historicity of both the empty tomb and the appearances. This leaves only the origin of the disciples' belief in the resurrection. However, as we've seen, there are alternative explanations for their belief that are at least as plausible as the resurrection.
The Contemporary Debate on the Resurrection
Secular Objections to the Resurrection
Assessment
Craig's Arguments
The Appearances
According to Craig, the second line of evidence for the resurrection is the various appearances of Jesus alive after his death. Like the empty tomb story, there are solid, historical grounds for rejecting the appearance stories. First, as countless scholars have pointed out (Keller, p. 47; K�ng, p. 347; et al), there was not a single eyewitness to the resurrection itself. But the situation is even worse than that. We do not even have eyewitness accounts of the people who claimed to see Jesus after his death. As Keller writes, "All we have is other people's accounts of what the eyewitnesses purportedly saw, and these accounts are typically sketchy and were written many years later. Thus, the historian who wants to understand what the resurrection event was must use later, sketchy, second-hand accounts of what the eyewitnesses saw, and from these accounts he must try to determine what the resurrection event was" (p. 46).
Third, the numerous differences in the gospel accounts of the resurrection have led New Testament scholar Willi Marxsen to conclude "that not only would each be at best incomplete if it were intended as history, but that they cannot be harmonized in detail" (cited in Keller, p. 58). Fourth, the changes which Matthew and Luke made in Mark (which they knew) reveal that certain theological purposes shaped the narratives (Ibid.). Next, the post-resurrection accounts (like the rest of the gospels) were originally circulated as individual stories before they were gathered and put into written form, which may or may not be significant. The original manuscripts of Mark, which is considered by most critical Biblical scholars to be the earliest gospel, ends at 16:8 without the appearance story of the risen Jesus in 16:9-20, which was added later. That is to say, the earliest gospel accounts of the resurrection contained no appearance stories.
Finally, many of the specific appearances cited by Christian apologists may be disputed on purely historical grounds. For example, if the accounts in Acts of Paul's experience are accurate - a highly questionable assumption - then Paul did not see Jesus at all; all he saw was a light. Likewise, the appearance to 500 is rejected by several scholars as unhistorical because it is only mentioned by Paul. If such an event had actually happened, it would have been the strongest evidence the gospel writers would have had for the resurrection. The fact that they did not mention it highly suggests that it did not happen.
It should be noted that none of these reasons assume naturalism, and that several New Testament scholars (Marxsen, K�mmel, Anderson, Fuller, et al) question the historical reliability of the appearance stories yet claim to be Christians. As we have seen in chapter two, for some Christians these stories convey religious truth without being empirically verifiable or falsifiable.
The Origin of the Christian Faith
Craig's third and final line of evidence for the resurrection is the very origin of the Christian faith. According to Craig, "Even the most skeptical NT scholars admit that the earliest disciples at least believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead. In fact, they pinned nearly everything on it" (p. 288). According to Craig, this belief cannot be explained in terms of Christian influences (they didn't exist yet), Pagan influences (contemporary scholarship has rejected this argument), or Jewish influences (the Jewish concept of resurrection was radically different from Jesus' resurrection). Craig concludes thus, "The origin of the Christian faith is therefore inexplicable unless Jesus really rose from the dead" (p. 293).
This line of evidence is itself an inference to the best explanation. If alternative hypotheses are equally plausible with the resurrection, then Craig's inference to "Jesus really rose from the dead" is weakened. Do plausible alternatives to the resurrection exist?
Before suggesting what I consider plausible explanations for the origin of the disciples' belief, let me make it clear which hypotheses I reject. First, I do not hold to the old Swoon theory (either as originally formulated by Venturini or more recently by Hugh Schoenfield in The Passover Plot), the hypothesis that Jesus did not die but merely "lost consciousness" on the cross, and later revived. Nor do I believe that the resurrection accounts are deliberate lies by eyewitnesses of the crucifixion who concocted resurrection stories they knew to be false. Nor I do I reject the historical existence of Jesus. None of these explanations seem particularly compelling.
However, I do think that there are at least two factors which may have led to the disciples' belief in Jesus' resurrection. First, as G.A. Wells points out, Jewish Wisdom literature influenced the earliest Christian thinking on the resurrection (p. 48):
Proverbs 3:19 and 8:22-36 represent Wisdom as a supernatural personage, created by God before he created heaven and earth, mediating in this creation and leading man into the path of truth. In the Wisdom of Solomon (from the Old Testament apocrypha) Wisdom is the sustainer and governor of the universe who comes to dwell among men and bestows her gifts on them, although most of them reject her. 1 Enoch tells that, after being humiliated on earth, Wisdom returned to heaven. It is thus obvious that the humiliation on earth and exaltation to heaven of a supernatural personage, as preached by Paul and other early Christian writers, was well represented in the Jewish background. And it is not just that such ideas could have influenced Paul; they obviously did, for statements made about Wisdom in Jewish literature are made of Jesus in the Pauline letters. 1 Corinthians 1:23-5 comes very near to expressly calling the supernatural personage that had become man in Jesus 'Wisdom'.
Second, Wells cites the Jewish apocalyptic expectation as another source of the disciples' belief that Jesus has been raised from the dead (p. 49):
There is another factor. Paul uses the phrase 'first fruits' apropos of Christ's resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20) and also of the gift of the spirit to the Christian community (Romans 8:23). Both Jews and early Christians expected the end of the world to come quickly, and thought it would be presaged by a general resurrection and by the gift of the spirit. In these circumstances it is hardly surprising that some persons should, as Paul records, come forward with 'gifts of the spirit' and make ecstatic utterances. But if the presence of the spirit was a sign that the first fruits of the harvest and of the end-time had already been gathered, then the resurrection must also be nigh. It may have been partly on this basis that early Christians came to believe that Christ is risen, that resurrection had, to this extent, already begun; and that a pledge had thus been given that a general resurrection of mankind would shortly follow.
Taken together, I think these explanations have a cumulative nature that is at least equally plausible with the inference to the resurrection. Moreover, the problem of the origin of a belief is not unique to Christianity. The early followers of other religions, like Mormonism and Islam for example, were also convinced of the truth of their religion. Just because we may not completely understand how these beliefs came into existence does not mean these beliefs must be true. Likewise, even if the alternatives given above are wrong, that does not suddenly imply that the resurrection is true.
Summary
As we have seen, there are solid, historical grounds for rejecting the inference that Jesus rose from the dead, as understood in a materialist fashion. Such objections need not entail a Humean rejection of the miraculous. Many, if not most, scholars doubt the historicity of both the empty tomb and the appearances. This leaves only the origin of the disciples' belief in the resurrection. However, as we've seen, there are alternative explanations for their belief that are at least as plausible as the resurrection.
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